UCSF to close clinic serving low-income youths

UCSFs New Generation Health Clinic is slated for closure, in San Francisco, CA Thursday, March 17, 2016.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Faced with a drop in patients, UCSF plans to close a health center that serves primarily low-income youths in the Mission District and Bayview Hunters Point neighborhoods, a move that other health providers say may discourage young people from seeking care for sexual and other health services.

New Generation Health Clinic at 625 Potrero Ave. will shutter on July 31 after more than 20 years of providing health services to teens and young adults living in neighborhoods with some of San Francisco’s highest rates of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

UCSF officials said the federal Affordable Care Act, which expanded the state’s Medi-Cal services to more Californians and also offered private subsidized coverage, has given young people more options and reduced the number of patients seeking care at New Generation.

Additionally, demographic shifts have resulted in a drop in clients from more than 4,400 a decade ago to fewer than 2,000 a year now, said Dr. Rebecca Jackson, a UCSF professor who oversees the clinic.

“We can’t make ends meet. It’s $24,000 a month in deficit, and I don’t know how to sustain my operations,” said Jackson, who is also chief of service of obstetrics and gynecology at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. She said the clinic lost important grant money, and revenue has dropped by 30 percent in the past two years.

UCSF originally intended to close the clinic at the end of April and notified New Generation’s staff March 1. Last week, university officials decided to delay the closure by three months to coordinate with the San Francisco Department of Public Health in directing New Generation patients to other health services and clinics. The other clinics include Cole Street Youth Clinic, Hawkins Youth Clinic, Larkin Street Youth Services, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, Women’s Community Clinic and Planned Parenthood.

Critics of the plan to close New Generation see the delay as an opportunity to try to save the clinic.

“It just buys time,” said Joi Jackson-Morgan, deputy director of the Third Street Youth Center and Clinic and a UCSF research assistant. “I’m hopeful a solution will be made and New Generation will be sustained.”

Time to develop plan

But UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood said in a statement that UCSF can no longer run the clinic. The delay, he said, simply allows time for UCSF, the health department and “the community to develop a solid plan for patients to continue receiving services at other appropriate health sites that serve youths and young adults.”

School health advocates decried the clinic’s pending closure, concerned that regular clients will stop getting care. They said teen patients may be reluctant to use their parents’ coverage to seek care for sexual health services.

Wendy Snider, wellness coordinator at Thurgood Marshall High School in the Bayview, described the closure as heartbreaking.

“It’s so well known in the community as a youth-friendly clinic ... where you know you’re not going to run into your neighbor or your aunt,” said Snider, who refers at least three students a week to the clinic. She said alternative clinics may not be as easy for teens to get to or they may not feel as welcomed.

While UCSF officials say the federal health law is responsible for some of New Generation’s drop in patients, other health experts said the Affordable Care Act has increased demand for clinics because more people have access to primary care services.

“Generally most clinics, particularly most safety-net clinics, are seeing a boom in the number of patients they serve,” said Chris Perrone, director of improving access to care for the California HealthCare Foundation, a health philanthropy and research group in Oakland. He said he was not familiar with New Generation’s financial situation.

Deena Lahn, vice president of policy and advocacy at the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, said she hasn’t heard of clinics closing because of fiscal problems caused by the federal health law. The group of nonprofit San Francisco clinics does not include New Generation or other UCSF clinics.

“The risk to clinics we see is not lack of patients or fiscal insolvency; it’s a lack of providers,” Lahn said. More patients may have access to health coverage, she said, but because of low reimbursement rates, that doesn’t mean they can find a doctor that will see them.

Importance of clinics

Jessica Calderon, 21, who co-chairs the San Francisco Youth Commission’s youth justice committee, hasn’t used New Generation but said she’s visited other youth health clinics and knows how important they are, particularly to low-income and minority young people. She was critical of the planned closure.

“UCSF closing this clinic is just another step toward supporting the gentrification of our city and moving toward a new faux progressive San Francisco that is ultimately unfriendly for the young women and men of color,” she said in an email. “If UCSF truly believes in fostering equity and diversity when serving the Bay Area communities they should stand by their word and do just that.”

Victoria Colliver has been writing about health for the San Francisco Chronicle since 2001, focusing on the health care industry, health policy and cancer. Before joining The Chronicle, she worked for the San Francisco Examiner, the Oakland Tribune and the Stockton Record.

A graduate of UC Davis, Colliver received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.